Protective helmet



Sept. 28, 1965 A. E. HIRSCH 3,208,080

PROTECTIVE HELMET Filed March 30, 1964 FIG. 5. INVENTOR.

ARTHUR E. HIRSCH United States Patent 3,208,080 PROTECTIVE HELMET Arthur Ernest Hirsch, Montgomery County, Md assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy Filed Mar. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 355,981 11 Claims. (Cl. 23) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes Without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

The present invention relates to a protective helmet. More particularly this invention relates to a protective helmet capable of absorbing shocks and so constructed as to permit collapsing for storage.

Such helmets in the past have been constructed with rigid shells which make the helmet bulky and difiicult to store. This becomes a problem especially when such helmets are used in a limited space environment in which there exists a desire for more equipment than space available. Further, the liners of such prior art protective helmets have generally employed resilient material. Materials of this nature have the disadvantage when used in a protective helmet of merely temporarily storing the energy of a shock only to release it a short time later thus transmitting the shocks to the wearer. In connection with the present invention it has been found desirable for the liner material to have the property of dissipating the energy of a shock applied to the helmet. This is found to be possible by constructing the liner of a crushable material such that the energy of shock is transformed and dissipated in the plastic deformation of the liner material. In another version of the invention there may be employed for the liner a plurality of fluid filled, vented compartments with flexible wall, thus rendering the liner reusable.

It is therefore an object of this invention to produce a collapsible protective helmet.

Another object of this invention is to provide a helmet which is designed to absorb and dissipate the energy of a shock applied thereto.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of a helmet constructed according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section taken along the line 22 on FlGl;

FIG. 3 is a view of a modified arrangement of the liner and shell showing a mode of attachment of the liner to the shell;

FIG. 4 shows a modification of the liner employing fluid filled sections with vents; and

FIG. 5 shows a modification of the liner to allow for ventilation.

Referring to the drawings in which the invention embodied therein is illustrated, there is shown a helmet 11. The helmet 11 is composed of a plurality of overlapping segments 12 of a hard reinforced plastic resin or suitable equivalent material such as a nylon laminate or as nylon or fiberglass reinforcing in a polyester or epoxy resin binder. The individual segments are designed to form a collapsible outer shell of articulated segments and to conform to the shape of the wearers head. Alternatively, the segments may be elastically hinged together as by being attached to a stretchable layer of flexible material (not shown). This hard outer shell or layer prosass Patented Sept. 28, 1965 vides protection against penetration, while the segmental construction permits the helmet to be collapsed into a small volume for storage.

An inner liner 13 consists of a plurality of sections of a material selected for absorbing and dissipating the energy of a shock received by the helmet. These liner sections may be made from any of suitable material such as for example, the non-resilient polyurothance foams, orushable paper products, and vegetable fibers. Another form of construction of these sections is to form them as fluid containing bags 13a, as shown in FIG. 4, with venting means 13b of any suitable design to release the fluid if the pressure peak of the shock exceeds a predetermined level. In choosing materials for the inner liner, the material is selected to plastically deform at predetermined energy levels. As shown in FIG. 2 the helmet may be constructed by having the sections of the inner liner attached to the corresponding segments of the outer shell, as by a cement. The Whole of the helmet is then held together by a cloth covering 14 attached to the side of the liner sections nearest the wearers head.

In FIG. 3 the sections of the inner liner 13 are shown as enclosed in a cloth bag 15 with stitching 16 between the segments to hold them in place, and with the bags 15 being attached to the segments of the outer shell by threads or wires 17 passing through eyelets 18 which may be formed integral with or attached to the respective segments of the outer shell. In all these arrangements the sections of the inner liner are so mounted that allowance is made in the spacing of these sections to enable the helmet to be collapse-d. The thickness of the inner liner material is designed for the particular material selected to absorb the maximum or normally expected shocks, within the limitation of the practical size of the helmet.

FIG. 5 shows that the surface of the inner liner may be made in the form of ridges 20 to allow for ventilation of the wearers head. Some ventilation may be provided by the spacing between the sections of the liner. Additional ventilation may be provided by means of perforations through the liner material (not shown), and in cases where ventilation is of major concern and some of the strength of the outer layer may be sacrificed, the perforations may be extended through both the inner liner and outer layer or shell.

It is to be understood that this invention may be practiced in ways than as specifically Ways described, as for example, by having the outer layer and inner liner separable.

Obviously many modification-s and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

1. A protective helmet comprising:

an outer thin shell composed of a plurality of overlapping segments of a light stiff material means interconnecting said segments, Whereby said segments are collectively shaped to conform generally tothe shape of the wearers head; and

an inner liner secured to said outer shell comprising a layer made up of a plurality of sections of a material for absorbing and dissipating the energy of a shock, means hingedly connecting said sections whereby said sections conform generally to the shape of the Wearers head;

thereby providing an efiicient collapsible shock absorbing protective helmet.

2. A helmet as defined in claim 1 in which the outer shell is made of a fiberglass reinforced plastic resin.

3. A helmet as defined in claim 1 in which the outer shell is formed from nylon cloth laminate.

4. A helmet as defined in claim 1 in which the outer shell is made from a hardened plastic.

5. A helmet as defined in claim 1 in which the said liner material is a crushable material.

6. A helmet as defined in claim 5 in which the said crushable material is a foamed plastic.

7. A helmet as defined in claim 6 in which said foamed plastic is polystyrene.

8. A helmet as defined in claim 1, including a cloth bag in which the sections of material are enclosed, said bag being attached to each of said outer shell segments.

9. A protective helmet comprising:

an outer layer of overlapping segments each of said segments being formed of a mol-dable material having a high coefficient of elasticity;

means hingedly interconnecting adjacent segments of said outer layer; and

an inner liner secured to said outer layer comprising a plurality of sections of a suitable plastically deformable material, each of said sections being secured to a corresponding segment said sect-ions being hingedly interconnect-ed through said segments, thereby being generally conformable to the shape of the wearers head;

said outer layer being generally conformable to a head i to form in combination with said liner shock protective helmet. 10. A helmet as claimed in claim 9 in which the sections of the liner are fluid containing flexible walled elements having venting means, said venting means being effective to release the fluid at a predetermined level of shock pressure.

11. A helmet as claimed in claim 9 in which said helmet includes means to provide ventilation for the Wearers head while wearing the helmet.

a collapsable References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 642,649 2/00 Vaughan 23 X 1,268,223 -6/ l8 Eimer 26 X 3,039,109 6/ 62 Simpson 23 3,070,802 1/63 Bernardini et al. 26 3,082,427 3/63 Zbikowski 23 3,107,356 1 0/ 6-3 Pestronk et al. 23

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,053,195 3/59 Germany.

539,577 9/41 Great Britain F ROBERT V. SLOAN, Primary Examiner,

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Examiner. 

1. A PROTECTIVE HELMET COMPRISING: AN OUTER THIN SHELL COMPOSED OF A PLURALITY OF OVERLAPPING SEGMENTS OF A LIGHT STIFF MATERIAL MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID SEGMENTS, WHEREBY SAID SEGMENTS ARE COLLECTIVELY SHAPED TO CONFORM GENERALLY TO THE SHAPED OF THE WEARER''S HEAD; AND AN INNER LINER SECURED TO SAID OUTERSHELL COMPRISING A LAYER MADE UP OF A PLURALITY OF SECTIONS OF A MATERIAL FOR ABSORBING AND DISSIPATING THE ENERGY OF A SHOCK, MEANS HINGEDLY CONNECTING SAID SECTIONS WHEREBY SAID SECTIONS CONFORM GENERALLY TO THE SHAPE OF THE WEARER''S HEAD; THEREBY PROVIDING AN EFFICIENT COLLAPSIBLE SHOCK ABSORBING PROTECTIVE HELMET. 